MONTY'S DREAM TEAM

Colin Montgomerie has starred in the Ryder Cup as both a player and a captain, so who better to select Europe’s all-time strongest line-up?

- MARK TOWNSEND

Colin Montgomerie knows a thing or two about making tough calls. In 2010, he left out Justin Rose and the then World No.7 Paul Casey – “leaving them out was the hardest decision of my life” – as he put together a winning team at Celtic Manor which set the ball rolling for three straight Ryder Cup victories.

As a player, his record was a phenomenal 20-9-7, which puts him at fourth in Europe’s list of all-time points scorers behind Sergio Garcia, Sir Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer and includes a record six wins and two halves in eight singles outings.

We asked the Scot to name his Ryder Cup dream team, so 12 captain’s picks from a galaxy of European heroes. He’s put them into some sort of order of preference, though, and like any good captain, he’s also backloaded the team with some tried-and-tested talents...

1 SEVE BALLESTEROS

You would have to start with Seve, God rest his soul. He was the reason the Ryder Cup became what it is today and he would be my first choice in every way. He was never going to beat himself – you had to beat him. Not because of his golf, it was because of him as an individual. The one word I would use to describe Seve playing golf is passionate. In match play, I would have 12 passionate people ahead of 12 golfers any day. He would be my number one and that would be the same on anybody’s list.

2 JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL